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Our take: York County GOP chief makes unfair resignation demand

York Daily Record editorial

Updated:
01/14/2014 12:31:04 PM EST

York County Republican Party Chairman Bob Wilson, left, recently asked for the resignation of party Committeewoman Elizabeth Roberts, right, for comments she made in a recent York Sunday News column criticizing the party. She has refused to resign. (File)

Elizabeth Roberts' Jan. 5 York Sunday News guest column was pretty pointed. In fact, it was a sharp stick in the eye of the York County Republican Party.

A couple of excerpts:

• "Thanks to their 2001 vote to increase their own pensions by 50 percent, (Ron) Miller and (Stan) Saylor will be handsomely rewarded for their below-average performance in the General Assembly. Like the doctor who leaps from his car after running over a pedestrian and says, 'Thank God I was here to help,' Reps. Saylor and Miller will be hard at work this year fixing the pension crisis they created."

• "In October 2013, Chairman (Bob) Wilson once again opined about the York 912 Patriots, 'Teaching people to dig holes in the ground for the impending government collapse or zombie apocalypse, whichever comes first, is not contributing anything positive to the political spectrum.' If I had to put my money on which comes first, a zombie apocalypse or the Republican Party actually upholding its principles, I'd have to go with the zombie apocalypse."

Last week, the local party retaliated.

County GOP Chairman Bob Wilson sent Roberts a letter asking her to resign as a committeewoman.

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An excerpt: "I am saddened that you find such displeasure with the party with which you are involved and plan to run in the upcoming primary. The ongoing vitriol towards the Republican Party has made it necessary for the York County Republican Committee to ask for your resignation as Committeewoman of Dover Township's 4th voting precinct."

Ms. Roberts declined to resign -- and rightly so.

She was elected to the committee position. It shouldn't be up to the party chairman or the committee members to remove her from such a post -- but to the voters.

Likewise, the voters will decide whether she should be the party's nominee for the 196th state House district. She recently announced she plans a primary challenge to Rep. Seth Grove, R-Dover Township.

Whether or not you agree with her positions and political philosophy, she should have a right to express those opinions. If she doesn't like the direction of her party, she has a right (or should have a right) to try to change that direction. That's exactly the purpose of democracy and politics.

Of course, that doesn't mean espousing such views and mocking party leadership will win many friends or convert many voters. But Ms. Roberts should have a right to make her point without being asked to resign.

That was a pretty ham-handed move on the part of local Republican brass -- the kind of thing legendary GOP party boss John Thompson Sr. might have done (without, perhaps, the incriminating letter that gave Ms. Roberts the golden opportunity to publicize the resignation demand).

We happen to disagree with Ms. Roberts, a leader of the York 912 Patriots tea party group, on many issues. A few years ago she compared former U.S. Rep. Todd Platts' voting record to communism and fascism -- which was wildly off base. We actually think Rep. Seth Grove is one of the best and most productive members of the local state House delegation.

But this resignation demand was just foolish. The better approach would have been to respond in kind -- in print, with a guest column refuting her condemnation of the local party. Put your thoughts and your principles on the table and then let the people decide who they agree with.

That's the best method -- and it would have been in keeping with words of inclusiveness Mr. Wilson expressed last year in the midst of a brouhaha involving Peck Foster's resignation from a local party post because the party ran a gay candidate, Bryan Tate, for state representative: "We have people from all walks of life who have different viewpoints," Wilson said. "... As long as they believe in limited government, fiscal stewardship and individual freedoms, we will welcome them with open arms, plain and simple."

Hmmm. Those words could easily apply to Elizabeth Roberts, as well.

This is the letter York County GOP Chairman Bob Wilson sent to Committeewoman Elizabeth Roberts. (Submitted)